Mark Hamill to star in 'New Gen' comic adaptation

Star Wars' most under-rated actor to return to big-screen sci-fi, with a 3D game developed simultaneously...

Star Wars' lead Mark Hamill is to headline a cross-platform adaptation of the comicbook series New-Gen Universe, including a theatrical feature release.

A.P.N.G. Enterprises' comic centres on a future society in another dimension, where the societal harmony between humans, 'strange creatures' and robots is torn apart by a battle over nanotechnology between two super-powered scientists. Gabriel, one of the feuding scientists, consigns Deadalus (the other) to the 'Underworld' and sends his infant twin children to Earth, where they are destined to be separated and only learn later of their identity. The children and other creatures develop "NanoPowers" in the Association for the Protection of the New Generation (A.P.N.G.), and are destined to war against Deadalus after his transformation into the evil Sly, a tyrant with the power to transform worlds.

Sounds like the most epic project Mark Hamill will have undertaken since Return Of The Jedi in 1983 (though Slipstream is a little under-rated). Hamill has proved himself over and over again to be an actor of extraordinary range and depth in the years after the original Star Wars trilogy, most especially as the voice of The Joker in animated Batman outings, and it would be good to see him once again in a richly-rendered sci-fi universe.

New-Gen co-creator J.D. Matonti is set to helm and co-produce the project, while further producing duties fall to fellow originators Chris Matonti and Julia Coppola.

The comic was distributed by Marvel earlier this year, and the franchise will also be developed as a 3D game via the participation of Green Leaf Film Studios in China.